by C. Annique Un., Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, February 2001., "February 2000.", Includes bibliographical references (leaves 297-311).

Flow Accelerated Corrosion (FAC) is the most prevalent material degradation mechanism for low carbon steel in steam-water flow systems. The band of uncertainty in predictions of wear rate due to FAC spans one to two orders of magnitude. Such a…

In this dissertation, I trace methods for organizing skilled workers engaged in creative, limited-term projects in the United States between the nineteenth century and the 1950s. Examining eras of system building in technical fields-civil engineering in the nineteenth century, laboratory…

Les médecins de famille, les pédiatres, les chiropraticiens et les physiothérapeutes sont parmi les professionnels de la santé les plus susceptibles de rencontrer des patients atteints d’une scoliose idiopathique adolescente. Les recherches démontrent que certaines lacunes existent à l’égard des…

La grossesse s’accompagne d’importantes modifications hormonales et hémodynamiques. Parmi celles-ci, le système rénine-angiotensine-aldostérone (SRAA) est activé très tôt durant la grossesse. De plus, cette augmentation du SRAA est accompagnée d’élévations du débit cardiaque et du volume plasmatique ainsi que des…

Current reasoning systems attempt to model an agent's knowledge and interaction with its environment in a symbolic manner. This environment, its world is generally dynamic and changing due to natural evolution or the actions of other agents that are a…

The goal of this work involves the developing of an argumentation-based formalism that an agent could use for constructing plans. In this formalism, agents will have certain knowledge about the world, and a set of actions that they will be…

The design of intelligent agents is a key issue for many applications. Although there is no universally accepted de nition of intelligence, a notion of rational agency has been proposed as an alternative for the characterization of intelligent agency.
Modeling…

The Sami people have struggled for centuries to maintain their culture in spite of pressures against it from colonialism. The formal education systems of Norway and Finland have acted in discord with Sami decision-making since their inception. In response to…

Research in decision making has identified the importance of prior knowledge and heuristics on decision making behaviour. These develop with experience in a fashion similar to how domain experts develop specialized knowledge structures and heuristic reasoning patterns. This research is…